My thoughts on the Phillies season.

The Phils’ offense gets shut down as they lose to the Astros, 5-0.

The Phils get shut out as they lose to the Astros, 5-0.

The Astros took the lead in the first as, with one man on, and with two men out, Justin Maxwell hits a two-run home run, his sixteenth home run of the season, knocking in Jose Altuve, who had started the inning off with a single, then moved up to second base on Fernando Martinez’s ground out, 4-3, giving the Astros a 2-0 lead. The Astros added to their lead in the second as, with the bases loaded, via singles to Matt Dominguez, Jason Castro and J. D. Martinez, then a force out at the plate, 3-2, on a grounder hit by Dallas Keuchel, as Erik Kratz touch first base in front of Dominguez, while both Castro and Martinez would move up a base, and with one man out, Altuve hits into a force out, 3-6, as Keuchel is wiped out at second base for the inning’s second out, as Castro scores, making it a 3-0 Astros’ lead, while Martinez would stop at third base. The Astros made it a 4-0 lead in the fifth as, with a runner on second base, and with two men out, Brett Wallace hits an RBI ground-rule double, scoring Keuchel, who had started the inning off with a single, then moved up to second base on Altuve’s sacrifice bunt, 2-3. The Astros increased their lead in the sixth as, with one man on, and with one man out, Martinez hits an RBI single, knocking in Castro, who had just doubled, giving the Astros a 5-0 lead. That would end up being the final score as Wesley Wright pitched a scoreless ninth.

Kyle Kendrick (9-11, 3.95) took the lost as he went five innings, giving up four runs on seven hits, as he struck out four. Josh Lindblom pitched two innings, giving up a run on three hits and a walk, while he struck out two. Jake Diekman pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Dallas Keuchel (2-7, 4.97) got the win as he threw five and one-third innings, as he gave up five hits, four walks and a hit batter. Mickey Storey pitched two-thirds of an inning, striking out both men that he would face. Xavier Cedeno, Hector Ambriz and Wesley Wright combined for three scoreless innings, giving up two hits (Ambriz (1), Wright (1)) and a walk (Cedeno) between them, while striking out a batter (Cedeno).

The Phils had seven hits in the game, with Kevin Frandsen leading the team with two hits, a single and a double. Jimmy Rollins (Single), John Mayberry, Jr. (Single), Ty Wigginton (Double), Erik Kratz (Single) and Kyle Kendrick (Single) had the other five Phils’ hits as the offense could not get the key hit to start scoring runs. The Phils also had five walks, three stolen bases (Rollins (28 & 29), Chase Utley (8)) and a hit batter (Utley) in the ballgame.

The Phils (73-73, 3rd East) will complete their series with the Astros (47-99, 6th Central) with a game already in progress.

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